HMA President’s Message - 2011 WMA Annual Conference, Honolulu

By Stacy Hoshino

HMA is still in the process of transition in order to publish Nuhou online, and I am hoping that the summer issue will be"delivered" to your email address. Hard copies will be available so please let me know if you prefer them instead.

The month of January was full of activity for the HMA and Western Museums Association (WMA) community.  Early in the month, panel proposal submissions for the WMA Annual Meeting and Conference that will be held in Honolulu, were due, and shortly thereafter the WMA Program Committee started the work to select proposals. The committee consists of ten members from Hawai'i, and ten located in the WMA region on the mainland.On January 20 and 21, both groups convened at meeting in Honolulu in order to start selecting the Annual Meeting's pro-gram of workshops and panel.

HMA has been an integral partner with the Western Museums Association in regards to planning the 2011 Annual Meeting to beheld in Honolulu, from September 23 to 26.  The Pacific Islands Museums Association, and Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums have all agreed to be co-sponsors. There will be a lot of information about the WMA Annual Meeting in Honolulu, so please connect with HMA through our website's www.hawaiimuseums.org, our Facebook and Twitter accounts also. In the next few weeks, more information will be publicized regarding a Call-for-Volunteers to help with the meeting.

Finally, on behalf of HMA members and the Board, I would like to thank and acknowledge the following for their generous support of the HMA co-sponsored WMA Annual Meeting in Honolulu.

· Mayor's Office of Culture & the Arts, City and County of Honolulu $5,000
· Cooke Foundation $5,000
· Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and Shangri La Hawai`i $1,000

Initial Proposals for Honolulu WMA Meeting

By Kippen de Alba Chu

The lovely and historic Tantalus home that architect Vladimir
Ossipoff designed for Betty and Howard Liljestrand was the
site of the WMA Program Committee meetings.

The Western Museums Association's Program Committee had its first meeting in Honolulu on January 20th and 21st to commence the process of sorting through workshops and session proposals for the upcoming Annual Meeting scheduled for September 23rd - 26th at the Hawai'i Convention Center. 

Over 80 proposals and a dozen workshop topics were received by the Committee. The task of the Committee members is to first select proposals that are relevant and provocative, and then work with the various proposers to edit their submissions according to the questions and concerns that arose during the review process. The Committee convenes again in early March in Los Angeles at the Getty Center for final selections and to shape the overall conference program.

One of the most exciting developments for this year's WMA is the nature of the many collaborations taking place between different organizations. For the first time, WMA is partnering with the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums (ATALM) to collaborate on a truly joint conference that will feature a distinct "indigenous" track for sessions, workshops, and additional events. Working with WMA as co-hosts are the Hawai'i Museums Association and the Pacific Islands Museums Association to bring a decidedly pan-Pacific flair to this gathering.

Session topics range from practical advice for collections management practices to exploring the illegal trafficking of cultural artifacts from the Asia - Pacific region. These sessions are meant to provide a wealth of experiences and information for attendees to use and adapt to their own situations and to provide the opportunity for valuable networking between far-flung institutions.

The WMA Program Committee would like to acknowledge the generosity and time of Bob Liljestrand and house manager, Trudy Couillard, for allowing the Committee to use the beautiful Liljestrand House to hold its meetings. A big mahalo as well to the wonderful staff at the Hawai'i Convention Center for the site visit and delicious evening reception, and to HMA's president and secretary, Stacy Hoshino and Celeste Ohta, for handling logistics and overall assistance.

Agnes C. Conrad, 1917-2011

One of HMA’s founders and stalwart supporters, Agnes Conrad passed away in January at the age of 93. She was considered one of Hawaii’s preeminent historians. Conrad moved to Hawai‘i from Catalina Island, California in the late 1930s and worked as a librarian at the University of Hawai‘i. In 1955 she was appointed the Territorial Archivist and served as State Archivist from 1959 to 1982. She is credited with creating the archivist’s profession in Hawai‘i and instituting professional standards for archives and record management. Not only was she a master of organization but made those materials available to those that needed them. 

Her reputation for being a stickler for historical accuracy made her an important editor and contributor on countless book and journal projects. Her recent notable projects were serving on the committee to publish The Queen’s Songbook featuring compositions by Queen Lili‘uokalani; serving as an important resource on writing the definitive biographies of St. Damien and the Blessed Marianne; serving as editor on The Folding Cliffs: A Narrative of 19th-Century Hawai‘i by W.S. Merwin, U.S. poet laureate; and The Letters and Journal of Don Francisco de Paula Marin, an early and influential Spanish Catholic immigrant to Hawai‘i who cultivated one of the Islands’ first vineyards and wineries. Conrad was named to many state committees including the State Council for the Humanities, the University of Hawai‘i Committee for the Preservation and Study of Hawaiian Language, Art and Culture, the State Foundation for Culture and the Arts evaluation committee, and the State Historic Places Review Board. She was director of the Friends of ‘Iolani Palace, a trustee for the Friends of the Library of Hawai‘i, and an officer for the Foundation for Hawai‘i Women’s History. 

Conrad was an active or supportive member in more than 25 other Hawai‘i organizations with interests ranging from the historical to the cultural to the botanical. Bishop Larry Silva appointed her to the diocese’s Father Damien/Mother Marianne Commission. For years she was also a member of the Catholic Women’s Guild, which itself claims a historic position as the Island’s oldest continuous lay Catholic charitable organization, helping immigrants and the poor since the days of royalty.

In 1987, the Honpa Hongwanji Mission named Conrad as one of Hawaii’s Living Treasures, saying “her contributions to Hawaiian history have been monumental.” It was just one of a number of distinguished achievement honors. In 1999, Holy Names College honored her with its alumni recognition award for outstanding service to the community. The Association of Hawai‘i Archivists in 2005 named an award after her to recognize contributions by Hawai‘i archivists. She was the first recipient. In 2008, Gov. Linda Lingle honored Conrad with the Governor’s Award for Distinguished Achievement in Culture, Arts and Humanities.

"Many people who wrote books in Hawai‘i would try to get her to edit their work. She was fantastic in details," Susan Shaner, Hawai‘i State Archivist  

“It was a joy to learn that she liked my work. To have her approval was significant. Every scholar and researcher wanted it to be known that she was involved in the writing of their books.” Sister Mary Laurence Hanley, Order of Saint Francis “

She introduced me so many wonderful things, the Judiciary History Center, the Palace, so many wonderful things … she absorbed so much about Hawai‘i and became very, very valuable to many people here.”  Catherine Hughes, Catholic Women’s Guild  

“As Hawaii’s territorial and state archivist from 1955 to 1982 — a full generation that spanned the Islands’ leap into statehood and a lively renaissance of Hawaii art, culture and politics — Conrad was for many the link between Hawaii’s present and Hawaii’s past.”  Patrick Downes, Hawai‘i Catholic Herald  

“My memories of Agnes begin when I was just a beginner at research, more than 50 years ago now. This was way back - in the days before even copying machines and electric typewriter,and decades before computers and databases. What is stored on hard drives these days was stored in people’s brains then, and at the Archives, Agnes was the institutional memory. I remember her with gratitude.” Gavan Daws, author Shoal of Time and Holy Man.

AAM Annual Meeting and Museum Expo™ May 22- 25, 2011 Houston, TX

American Association of Museums’105th annual meeting is being held in Houston,Texas, the fourth largest city in the U.S.. The theme is “The Museum of Tomorrow”

Download the interactive pdf advance program for the museum field’s premier professional development opportunity.

April 15 is the deadline for the advance rate to attend. AAM wishes to thank the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture for their support of the 2011 AAM Annual Meeting.

For more information visit www.aam.org

ATALM and PIMA to Co-sponsor WMA Annual Meeting & Conference

    




By Stacy Hoshino

An exciting and recent development is that Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries and Museums (ATALM) has agreed to be a co-sponsor of theWMA Annual Meeting and Conference. Together with other co-sponsors, HMA and Pacific Islands Museums Association (PIMA), the WMA Annual Meeting will be an exciting time to share our knowledge and experience with a wider collective of professionals in the field of collection management. ATALM is a national non-profit membership organization.

It maintains a network of support for indigenous programs, provides culturally relevant programming and services, encourages collaboration among tribal and non-tribal cultural institutions, and articulates contemporary issues related to developing and sustaining the cultural sovereignty of Native Nations. Incorporated in 2010, the Association of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums is a non-profit organization that is building on the foundation of earlier efforts that began in 2002 with the first National Conference of Tribal Archives, Libraries, and Museums held in Mesa, Arizona sponsored by the Arizona State Museum and the Arizona State Library, Archives, and Public Records.

A few of its Hawai‘i members include, Library and Information Science Department, University of Hawai‘i, Mänoa; ‘Ahahui Ka‘ahumanu; Alu Like, Inc.; Midkiff Learning Center at Kamehameha Schools; Bishop Museum; Hawai‘inuiäkea School of Hawaiian Knowledge – University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa; Papahana Kuaola; Native Hawaiian EducationCouncil; to name a few.

Honolulu Academy of Arts Appoints New Director

Stephan Jost, who has led Vermont’s Shelburne Museum for the past five years, will be the new director of the Honolulu Academy of Arts beginning May 2.

T. K. McClintock in the Forbidden City - By Liane Ikemoto

The Hawai‘i Museums Association, University of Hawai‘i Museum Studies Graduate Certificate program, and the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum co-sponsored a special presentation, Conservation of a Chinese Masterpiece: The Forbidden City’s Juanqinzhai Theater and Studio in the Qianlong Garden Complex, given by T. K. McClintock, Technical Advisor to the World Monuments Fund (WMF) for this project.

His lecture described the planning, logistics, technical studies, treatments, and outcomes of this six-year (2003-08) conservation project, which was supported by the WMF and the Palace Museum in Beijing, China.McClintock is the head of the Massachusetts-based conservation firm Studio TKM.

McClintock oversaw architectural conservation treatment; planning and developed a collaborative partnership with professionals from the Palace Museum to ensure that the project maintained a balance of the museum’s traditional techniques with a Western conservation approach. McClintock found that traditional practices used by museum staff were often restoration-based, addressing outward appearances rather than the retention of original materials, a practice popular in Western conservation. When original materials could not be salvaged with conservation treatment, McClintock encouraged the use of traditional techniques and materials to produce replacement materials as close to the original as possible, based on material studies and the Palace Museum’s historical records.  McClintock described his collaboration and information exchange with Palace museum professionals and local artisans as the most engaging and valuable aspect of the Juanqinzhai project and is crucial to the continued support of the Qianlong Garden Complex within the Forbidden City.

The event was co-sponsored by Hawai'i Museums Association, Bishop Museum and the University of Hawai`i Museums Studies Graduate Certificate Program.

Maximizing Visitor Experience

Wendy Meluch and Stephanie Weaver

On January 22, Wendy Meluch, principal of Visitor Studies Services, based in Novato, CA, and Stephanie Weaver of Experienceology, a visitor experience consultancy based in San Diego, lead the presentation and workshop,Understanding Visitor Surveys and Customer Service: A Workshop to Maximize What Your Audience Knows About Your Institution.

This professional development workshop took place at Bishop Museum’s Paki Hall and was attended by well over 30 people that were taught strategies on conducting surveys to understand what visitors are thinking about their institutions, ways to accommodate visitors to museums and informal learning centers so their experiences are good and hopefully one that resonates so they return, among other topics covered.

This workshop was co-sponsored by the HMA, the Museums Studies Graduate Certificate Program, University of Hawai‘i, Bishop Museum.

May 23-28th, 2011 - Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections

Join us in the City by the Bay, May 23-28^th, 2011 for the 26^th Annual Meeting of the Society for the Preservation of Natural History Collections, hosted by the California Academy of Sciences (CAS).  We will be joined this year by our colleagues from the Natural Science Collections Alliance (NSCA) for the fourth joint meeting of these two societies.  We think that this will be an exciting and productive meeting for both groups and look forward to continuing our collaborations.

The link for the site is: http://research.calacademy.org/spnhc
1) To register for the meeting, you can register yourself and you can add a guest to your registration for all of the evening social events by choosing the ADD A Guest options.  You will be charged for all of the options that you selection in one transaction.  However, if you want to bring a guest on the field trips you will need to start from the beginning of the registration process, choose “Guest” as the registration type, and then you will be given only field trip choices to pick from.  You will have to run your credit card through again to pay for that transaction.  We apologize for the clumsiness of this process, but we had a short time to get the system set up and this was the quickest way to do it.  There are instructions on the meeting registration web page, and if you have any trouble, please be sure to contact us

2) We have negotiated with the hotel for a few rooms for students.  A double occupancy room is normally $134 with the 3rd & 4th people paying an additional $20 each.  For students they will allow 4 students per room without paying the additional $20 for the 3rd and 4th people.  Since most institutions will not likely have 4 students attending, please encourage your students to try to pair up with other students to save some money!!

3) While the dates of the conference are 23-28 May, please note that the workshop on georeferencing will take place on 21-22 May.

We are looking forward to seeing you in San Francisco in May!

1 Day Workshop: Understanding Visitors Surveys and Customer Service

Understanding Visitor Surveys and Customer Service: A Workshop to Maximize What Your Audience Knows About Your Institution

One-Day workshop led by Wendy Meluch and Stephanie Weaver
January 22, 2011, 9:30 am to 3:00 pm
Paki Hall, Bishop Museum
$25 Student Members, $45 HMA Members; $75 Non-members

9:30 - 11:30: Learn to design and to collection info on visitor expectations, satisfaction and demographics, and how to analyze data. Wendy Meluch, instructor.

1:30 - 3:30: Learn to engage the visitor by reviewing "how an understanding of visitor motivations can inform and influence marketing and programming." Stephanie Weaver, instructor.

Wendy Meluch, is principal of Visitor Studies Services, and worked with a wide variety of institutions to help them bring the visitor voice into exhibit and program development. Clients include Bishop Museum; the Exploratorium; Chabot Space & Science Center; Anchorage Museum; & San Francisco Zoo. Her special interests in the field include visitor satisfaction, serving populations with special needs, and bilingualism in the museum environment. She holds an MA in Museum Studies from San Francisco State University and BAs in Anthropology and Tourism Management.

Stephanie Weaver is principal of Experienceology, a visitor experience consultancy based in San Diego, CA. She has a BA in film & design, and an MPH in health education. She developed her problem-solving approach working in the healthcare and museum fields. She has the ability to distill and synthesize key information and is a highly rated workshop presenter and meeting facilitator. She has created a how-to handbook- Creating Great Visitor Experiences: A Guide for Museums, Parks, Zoos, Gardens & Libraries. Clients include the San Diego Natural History Museums, California State Parks, Midway Aircraft Carrier Museums, Quail Botanical Gardens, Oakland Museum of California, Philbrook Museum of Art.